Rwanda To Host Three-Day U.N. Meeting

Rwanda will host a three-day U.N. meeting next week to discuss ways to improve the U.N.’s ability to “provide development assistance in a more coordinated way,” the New Times/allAfrica.com reports. “Rwanda is one of the 8 pilot countries implementing the U.N. ‘Delivering as One’ initiative, as part of the body’s reform process,” the publication writes. Participants in the meeting will share their experiences and lessons learned from the program since its implementation in 2007 (Gathoni, 10/14).

Puerto Rico Tests Syringe Vending Machine

“A needle exchange program in Puerto Rico is testing a vending machine that provides drug users with clean syringes after-hours to fight the spread of HIV and hepatitis C,” the Associated Press/Washington Post reports. The U.S. island territory’s only needle-exchange program will place a single machine outside its office, where drug users can access “syringes, cookers, cotton filters, gauze and sterile water to prepare drugs for injection by inserting a special card,” the news service writes (10/13).

U.N. Calls For Improved Hospital Preparedness For Natural Disasters

In honor of the International Day for Disaster Reductions Wednesday, U.N. officials appealed for urgent action to better prepare hospitals around the world to cope with natural disasters, Xinhua reports (10/13). U.N. officials are asking “governments to take practical steps to make hospitals safe from natural hazards, a need underscored by the recent tragedies that struck Asia and the Pacific,” U.N. News Centre reports (10/14). U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said in a written statement: “With weather-related disasters on the increase, it is critical to ensure that health facilities are prepared for emergencies and able to provide lifesaving care in their wake” (10/5).